For in the End
by RogueMudblood
Summary: Pitch is back, with a new dastardly plan. After capturing Jack he reveals all. Can the Guardians defeat the master of fear and save Jack before the world is doomed?


_Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians. No profit is made from this work of fiction._

_Author's note: First, I hope you enjoy it. Second, there's innuendo, but nothing more. Not on a teen site where I've personally found people proclaiming to be preteens. Third, (you probably guessed) 'tis a bit of a parody._

* * *

North had not expected a very frantic Tooth to run into the middle of his card game with Sandy and the Easter Bunny demanding help. She was hysterical, and quite unintelligible. It had taken several minutes – and numerous times of being nearly knocked out by Sandy – to get her to a state where she could actually let them all know what had happened. North, of course, had rushed to the tower and opened the portal that allowed the man in the moon to communicate with them. Seeing the blackness through the roof was disconcerting to them all.

Of course, Jack came falling in through the open portal and landed hard on the floor. They stared at him in shock for several moments before he groaned and began moving. He was slightly too late in his attempt to warn them. The attack had quickly taken out Sandy, and the concussive force had caused his sand to fly into the air. North had been quickly rendered unconscious by the sand. Though he had tried to avoid it, Bunny also succumbed to its effects, leaving Tooth to help a mostly incapacitated Jack to his feet.

"Jack, what's going on?"

"Pitch," he managed to wheeze out. Laughter surrounded them. Tooth allowed Jack to lean on her as she pivoted them both, trying to find the source.

"Pity you told her, Jack. We could have had some more fun."

"Had enough fun for now, Pitch." Jack had managed to stand a bit straighter, pushing Tooth behind him. Pitch stepped out of the darkness and approached them, grabbing him by the jaw.

"Shame," the taller man whispered as he drew their faces close together. "I certainly had something pleasurable in mind." Tooth's outraged gasp distracted Jack long enough for Pitch to knock his feet out from under him. Jack landed hard on his knees, watching without much hope as the dark spirit approached the fairy.

"No, don't." He reached a hand toward them as Pitch turned to face him once more. "Please, leave her out of this. I'll do whatever you want." The dark spirit turned fully back to him then, kneeling down and grabbing his chin.

"You should be careful of making such promises, Jack. I could have some very … lascivious ideas of what I want from you." Jack shuddered slightly. There was a dark promise in Pitch's words that the young guardian knew he meant to follow through at some point in the future. "For now, I'll settle for taking your promise as acquiescence in our earlier debate." Pitch turned back to the other spirit when she gasped again. "Have you sprung a leak?" His eyebrow rose as he addressed her, voice dripping with disdain. Her mouth snapped closed, teeth making an audible clack in the silence.

"What have you done now, Pitch?" Her voice shook, even though she tried to infuse it with a hint of steely determination.

"You know, when you lot turned my own creations against me, I lived through every terror I'd had for centuries." He stalked toward her, his face hardening into a mask of hatred. "That was very evil of you." He turned away from her dismissively. "But I had a thought while I was being plagued by all of those horrors." He picked imaginary lint from his cloak, looking over his shoulder at her once more. "Let me share it with you."

Tooth shook her head in fear as the black sand he held at his command began to surround her. "Ah, n-no. That's okay."

"Oh, but I _like_ to share." His voice was barely above a whisper and held such menace a shiver actually ran down her spine.

As the two locked eyes once more, Jack managed to pull himself back to his feet. "That's enough, Pitch," he wheezed. Pitch turned back to him. "Don't hurt her."

"I would never!" His false incredulity quickly fell from his face as he returned his gaze once more to the cowering fairy. "But she might hurt herself."

With wide eyes Tooth whirled in circles, wildly wrenching her arms away from tendrils of black dust. Several seconds of her rapid turning passed before she screamed in shock as the dark tentacles wrapped themselves around her wings, effectively disabling her. She screeched in outrage, attempting to flutter her wings to free them. The tendrils only gripped tighter, yanking on her wings slightly. She whimpered in pain as she conceded defeat.

Jack rushed forward, heedless of his own pain as he tried to pummel Pitch. The darker spirit chuckled, grasping the guardian's hands and turning him in his arms, effectively wrapping the ice wielder in his embrace. He pressed his chest against Jack's back, positioning his legs on the outside of the other spirit's.

"Now, now. Don't be upset at me." Jack struggled briefly, trying to free himself as Pitch transferred both of his wrists to be gripped in one of the taller spirit's hands. "It's her own imagination working against her, Jack." Pitch leaned down, placing his lips against Jack's ear. "It's her own fault. You know that. You saw it for yourself." Jack shuddered involuntarily. "Ooh, Jack. You'll give me ideas if you keep that up." Jack's eyes closed, a tear slipping down his cheek. He knew Tooth would be helpless against her own imagination.

"Let her go, Pitch. Please."

"You beg so nicely, Jack. I think we may explore that later. For now," he heaved a long-suffering sigh, "I suppose I shall acquiesce." With an imperious wave of his hand, the black dust reluctantly pulled away from the fairy, letting her fall to the floor. Her frustration was evident in the tears streaming down her face, but she rose to her feet.

"We told you before, Pitch. We will fight your fear."

"Ha! You can fight it all you like. I'm not after you at all this time. Go ahead, Tooth Fairy. Fight the fear." He tightened his grip on Jack. "Come then. Time to go." Jack nodded once, looking at Tooth sadly. "Oh, stop it! It's not like she'll never see you again, Jack." Without further preamble, he gathered his dust around them, letting it draw them into the air just as the other guardians began to stir.

Bunny came to first, groggily lifting himself up. Taking note of Tooth's harried appearance, he followed her gaze upward. His eyes caught sight of Jack in Pitch's arms, his face turning into a mask of fury as he rose shakily to his feet. "Pitch! You know we'll win this war, mate!"

Pitch's laughter rang out across the sky. "Try as you might, Bunny, you'll never win this one." He disappeared, carrying Jack with him, in a cloud of blackness.

Sandy pushed himself to a sitting position even as North's yetis pulled the large man to his feet. Gathering a cloud of dream dust beneath himself, Sandy levitated as the group began to discuss their options in regards to Pitch's latest scheme.

* * *

"Pitch, I agreed not to fight you, not to help the others so long as you don't hurt them. Please, don't do this." Jack swallowed audibly. "I'm sure … I'm sure we could agree on some other activity."

Pitch took his hands away from the keyboard for a brief moment before shaking his head and resuming his typing. "You know, these are such wonderful devices that the humans have come up with."

"Exactly! If you do this, they'll never be able to come up with such things again."

"Oh, nice try, Jack! Much better than the last." He pressed a few more keys, before turning to face the guardian. "One down. Ah, so many more to go." He motioned for Jack to come to him. The bound guardian had no choice but to comply. "You see, Jack, before that even becomes a problem, I'll have accomplished my goal. All it takes is preying on their fears. You know I've always known that." Cupping his hips, he pulled the guardian to him. "Did you mean what you said, Jack?" Pitch used his grip to coerce the younger spirit into straddling his lap. "Do you really," his lips began skimming Jack's neck as h spoke, leaving feather-light kisses in their wake, "think we could agree … on something?" He pushed his hips upward slightly as he asked the last, causing Jack to grunt above him.

Sweat broke out on Jack's brow. "I-I... um ..."

With a sigh, Pitch rose, bringing the guardian to a standing position as well. "It's alright, Jack. You're still unsure. I understand." He ran a finger down Jack's cheek before cupping the side of his face with that hand, running his thumb over the guardian's lips. "We'll get there. Perhaps you should read some of this drivel. Then your imagination will get to work for a bit. Before I finish with the humans, anyway."

Jack shuddered, his eyes closing involuntarily at the gentle touch of his enemy. He drew back, removing himself from Pitch's touch. "S-so tell me again... How does this accomplish anything?"

Pitch chuckled. "All right. I'll let you change the subject this time." He sat back down facing the display of vast amounts of text. "This," he motioned to the screen, "is fanfiction. It's something that the humans do when they let their imaginations run wild. Rampant strange little things some of them call plunnies seem to be produced by combining elements. Now, this 'fanfiction' often spawns a great deal of envy among the less popular – those who either write in more obscure arenas, or those who simply don't have a vast readership. They give a lot of excuses for what they do, but an increasing number of the people, particularly on this site," he pointed directly to the blue letter f at the top of his screen, "post the product of other people's imaginations on their own accounts and claim credit for those works."

"What? Why?"

Pitch rolled his eyes. "I just told you, Jack. Oh, have I rattled you? Here, let me make you more comfortable." He pulled the guardian into his lap once more, this time facing the screen. "That's better, isn't it?" Jack was not quite able to stop himself from nodding. Pitch chuckled. "I thought so.

"As I was saying, there are people on here who will take the effort that others have put forth and claim it erroneously. Now, there are usually a couple of responses on the part of the actual authors." Pitch placed his hands firmly on Jack's thighs. "Stop squirming. You'll get more than you've bargained for this early." Jack swallowed and nodded vigorously.

"Usually," Pitch continued, leaving his hands on Jack's thighs, "they get angry and start flaming the person who did it. Sometimes, however, there's a different response. But let's talk about those flamers first. They're the ones who generally have the immediate response to remove their imaginative writings from this lovely internet these humans have created to share information. So, they pull all of their works, forcing their readers to look for other things to whet their literary appetites. Sometimes, these are authors who have a large following, and that causes a lot of uproar.

"Now, the other type of individual can often have that reaction as well, being disheartened at having their scribblings stolen so much that they react by removing their items from being shared so that no one can abuse their imaginations again. Mm, Jack, I warned you about squirming." He placed his lips against the youngest guardian's neck, suckling just below the other spirit's ear. "If you keep this up, you'll be on the receiving end of my imagination, and I don't think you're quite ready for that." Pitch groaned as a shiver running down Jack's spine caused him to grind down slightly. "But maybe I'm wrong," he practically growled.

"No, no. Tell me more, Pitch. Please?" Jack's discomfiture was evident in his voice, and Pitch allowed himself a barking laugh, pulling the guardian back on his lap so that his chest touched the ice-wielder's back.

"Very well, then. The point of all that is the disappearance of the products of vivid imaginations. Now, _imagine_, if you will, that numerous works are simply removed from the internet overnight. Entire archives simply wiped out because the community owners have gotten so tired of the plagiarism running rampant. Site moderators, tired of being harassed about copyright violations, quit their jobs, leaving the sites un-moderated, the abused users with no recourse save to remove their works."

"They would still be there, though not under their own names."

"At that point, Jack, the posters would have been flamed repeatedly. They would either pull the works completely to stop that abuse, or they would abandon the accounts. Once it's reached that stage, though, anyone with true imagination is no longer posting. Only the frauds are left. Even the hack writers wouldn't be posting, for fear that their works would be stolen. After all, if it can happen to someone as wildly popular as their idols, then it can certainly happen to them now that their inspiration, their reasons for trying to present their efforts to the world, are eliminated."

"It will never work, Pitch. There are other outlets-"

"Which I will move on to once I have eliminated this one. A picture may be worth a thousand words, Jack, but a thousand words can generate a million different pictures. It all depends on your perspective, your background. After all, if your friends were to walk into the room at this moment, what would they presume?" He put his hand in Jack's hair, turning the guardian's face to the side, and kissed the younger spirit fiercely. After several moments, Pitch relinquished his hold. "You taste wonderful, Jack," he whispered softly. He smiled at the shudder his words elicited.

"Glad to know that, mate. As for what we would assume, it would be that you were holding him hostage."

Pitch's tenderness abandoned him as he rose to his feet, effectively dumping Jack onto the floor. His black dust surrounded him protectively, freeing his captive completely.

"You know what the problem with this plan is, Pitch?" Jack moved around him as he joined the other guardians. "It does hurt my friends. With no imagination in the world, with everything staid and dull the way you describe, no one would believe in the fantastical anymore. That means they wouldn't believe in us. They wouldn't believe in _me_, Pitch. And that," he took his staff from Bunny's outstretched hand, twirling it once, "voids our agreement." Pitch's eyes widened slightly before narrowing in anger.

"If that's the way you want this, Jack." He sighed. "We could have had great fun together, though." He let his tongue trace his upper lip, lingering in the center before he pulled it slowly behind his teeth.

North's yetis moved forward, guarding Jack from any further advances from Pitch. The ancient spirit rolled his eyes at the obvious claim being staked before having to shield his face from the unexpected attack from Tooth's fairies. The thousands of tiny termagants pecked at every bit of skin they could reach, causing him to use his arms to shield his face. Thus occupied, he never expected the tiny mice that began climbing his legs. Girlish screams filled the room as Pitch began jumping about wildly, trying to avoid both groups of attackers.

After several unsuccessful attempts at using his dust to surround the groups, he simply lashed it outwards in large masses as he had during their first battles. The guardians stepped forward as the fairies and mice scurried to safe locations away from the blackness attempting to overwhelm them. Bunny used his boomerangs to best effect, dissipating the walls of black dust with a few swings almost as quickly as Pitch could form them. Winded, Pitch fell to his knees. North stepped forward and pulled the older spirit to his feet. He delivered a mighty blow to the darker spirit's abdomen. Pitch fell to the floor as North released him, gasping for air.

"That is for coming into my home uninvited, хуй. And for interrupting our card game."

"North!" Jack looked at him in shock. "I didn't know you had that in you!"

"There is a lot about me, Jack, that you have yet to learn." The spirit of Christmas winked at the young man.

"Hey there, mate. Back off." Bunny sniffed as North held up his hands in surrender.

Sandy was still focused on Pitch. Using his sand, he formed images above his head. Terrified, the darker spirit began begging for reprieve. Sandy repeatedly shook his head, the images speeding up, but never changing. Jack watched, along with the other guardians, as a storm of gold sand surrounded the fallen spirit. A few moments later, the whirlwind subsided. Pitch was gone. Sandy looked to North and Tooth, nodding once to each of them. He then turned to Bunny, made a gesture with his hands that had Bunny spluttering, and patted Jack on the back as he left.

"Well, I suppose we're done here," Tooth said, smiling. "So, my little ones, excellent job! What shall we do as a treat before we go back to work?" Excited chatter filled the air as she escorted her entourage out. Jack smiled as he watched them. Unseen, Bunny moved to stand behind him. North smiled as he saw the move.

"Well then, gentlemen. I believe it is time for me to go back north, da?" He was not able to suppress his laughter as he used one of his snow globes to quickly remove himself and his yetis from the premises. Bunny stepped close enough to the youngest guardian that Jack could feel his heat.

"I think we've got something to talk about, mate." His voice was soft, gentle in Jack's ear, and the younger guardian stepped away from him.

"I would have," Jack said softly.

"Would have what?"

"If he had said he would never hurt you, I would have. I just kept … the whole time he was using that sand on me … he was right about the imagination. It can be our worst enemy." Jack wrapped his arms around himself, still facing away from Bunny.

"No, no, mate, he had it all wrong! The imagination is our greatest good, our greatest joy. Not only does it help the little ones believe in us, but it helps the parents remember what wonder and joy are. It keeps them from being too hard on mischievous children." He reached out to Jack, turning the other spirit to face him. He cupped Jack's face in his hand, wiping away a slowly rolling tear with his thumb. "What did he do to you, Jack?" The ice-wielder shook his head violently in denial. "You can tell me, mate."

"He … At first, I didn't know what he was on about. 'Imagine the worst thing that can possibly happen to you, Jack. Just think about it. The worst thing.' The dust was already around me at that point, and my first thought was about not having any defense against it, so it reached for my staff and all he did was laugh. 'No, no. So naïve. So... innocent. The worst thing at all, Jack, what would it be?' And I thought about you..." Jack's voice caught in his throat. "He saw it, Bunny. He saw my worst fear." His voice was barely above a whisper, but the Australian-born leporid heard him clearly enough.

"Mate, we talked about this-"

"No, you don't understand! I saw you … in my mind, I mean... and when we got to North's and he used his sand like that... and I saw you lying there, so still..." Tears were streaming unabated down Jack's face. Bunny used both hands to cradle his face for a moment before pulling the other guardian into a tight embrace.

"I'm all right, love. You're all right. He's gone, and if I'm right about what Sandy did, he's not coming back. Not in any semblance of a corporeal form anyway. His dust is gone and it can't hurt us anymore. You got me, mate? He's not going to hurt us." Jack nodded, finally getting his tears under control. "I do think we need to talk, but not just now. C'mon, mate. Let's get back to the -"

A beep from the computer interrupted him, and they both walked over to read the message that came up on the screen.

_-Your account has been permanently suspended. Your e-mail address has been added to our banned users list, and you will not be able to use it to re-register.-_

Other messages seemed to have popped up as well while they had been talking. Jack used the mouse as he'd seen the humans do and clicked between windows, reading them all.

_-You've been added to the list of known plagiarists.-  
-I honestly can't believe you did this. Did you think no one would notice? You've been reported!-_

"See, mate? Pitch has no idea what makes these humans tick. They'll defend their rights to share their imaginations, to show the world the wonders they can conceive. I don't think we'll ever lose their belief in us completely. There will always be at least one, like you said." Jack smiled as Bunny pulled him out of the chair. "C'mon then, mate. Back to the warren with you. And don't worry – I'll hold you all night long to keep your dreams sweet."

Jack blushed as Bunny tapped his foot on the ground under them. When the hole sealed itself behind them, a pink gillyflower sprouted from the floor.

_~Fin~_


End file.
